Israel, Morocco sign security agreement
Israel and Morocco yesterday signed a security agreement making it easier for Rabat to acquire high-tech exports from Israel's defence industry, as the countries expand ties following their normalisation deal last year.
The memorandum of understanding signed in Rabat by visiting Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Morocco's minister in charge of defence administration, Abdellatif Loudiyi, was "unprecedented" for the Jewish state, an Israeli official said.
The Morocco deal marks the first-of-its-kind agreement with a majority Arab nation, the official said.
Israel has full diplomatic relations with only four Arab countries: Egypt, Jordan, UAE and Bahrain.
The Morocco deal came as Gantz made the first visit by an Israeli defence minister to the North African kingdom.
Morocco and Israel previously set up low-level ties in 1993 but Rabat broke them off at the start of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in 2000.
Rabat normalised ties with the Jewish state last December, shortly after similar announcements by the UAE and Bahrain. Sudan followed suit in January but has yet to build relations.
Those pacts brokered by former US president Donald Trump infuriated the Palestinians, who urged the Arab world to maintain its stand against recognising Israel until it agrees to a peace deal establishing a Palestinian state with its capital in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
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